A New Beginning
The world is in a time a transition. Due to the tumult that resulted from the end of the Fourth Shinobi War, and the ideals of a few bold individuals the concept of "Ninja" has begun to change. First and foremost amongst these reformists is Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage. Naruto and his supporters are slowly turning the Ninja World towards the ideal of Ninshu, and aim to bring peace and prosperty with it. However not all agree with this grand vision. The Ninja World has become split between those that embrace Naruto's "New Nindo", and those that wish to remain true to the old ways. This is the beginning of the story of a group of young ninja that are struggling to define themselves in a time of confusion. A New Day The day started off with a bang. literally. Out of a dead sleep Jiraiya woke with a start as a loud, obnoxious banging continued to eminate from some as of yet unknown source. He had practically jumped right out of bed from surprise. Jiraiya began to search for the source of the sound. It the repetitive banging had only been going on for a few seconds, but it was already giving him a headache. After frantically search for a few moments he found the source. He opened his pack to find a toy monkey baning frantically on a pair of symbols. "Kenjiro", Jiraiya thought. With no visible off switch Jiraiya was resigned to simply smashing the offending primate, which he did with gusto. Clearly Jiraiya's friend Kenjiro was behind this. Kenjiro had a fondness for pranks. Perhaps a fondness was not the right word. Kenjiro's daily schedule usually incorporated playing pranks on a number of people, his friends being his favorite targets. Kenjiro must have placed this menace in his pack during class when he was not looking, and set it to go off after a certain amount of time. Jiraiya looked at his clock. 6:30 am. At least Kenjiro had the decency to set it to go off exactly when Jiraiya needed to get up. Stifling a yawn Jiraiya began walking towards the bathroom. Then after going through his usual morning rituals he went downstairs for breakfast. His mother was already up and cooking. When he entered the room she turned and gave him a gentle smile. Jiraiya returned it and gazed jealously at his mother's pale eyes. Jiraiya had often envied them. Sadly he had inherited his father's ordinary blue eyes. "Good morning sweetheart! Are you ready to go to class?", Hinata inquired while putting a plate of bacon and eggs in front or him. "Yep. Revved and ready to go. Well after I eat of course", Jiraiya lied. In truth he was physically ready, but he had been dreading going to class for a while now. The Academy Graduation Exam was looming close, and with every day it drew nearer his mood had worsened, but that wasn't something he was about to burden his mother with. "Dad already gone?" "Yes. He had to get going early. Your father has been very busy lately", Hinata replied. She wasn't wrong. Given his position he was always busy to some extent or another, but lately Jiraiya's father had seemed extra waited down with work. Jiraiya usually only saw him at dinner, and lately there were more days when he didn't come home than when he did. As a result Hinata had been lonely, and Jiraiya had sensed that. Jiraiya quickly ate his breakfast and got ready to go. As little as he was looking forward to going to class, nothing would come of skipping besides bringing his parent's displeasure down over his head. If possible he could do without the lecture. He thanked his mother for breakfast and headed out. He was headed towards the academy when he heard the sounds of bickering. The voices were familiar, and it didn't take more than a second for Jiraiya to identify them. Jiraiya rounded a corner to find his two best friends standing under a tree fighting like always. "hi guys", Jiraiya said. Jun and Kenjiro stopped arguing and looked at him. The two of them were no doubt fighting about something petty again. They did this quite often. So often that Jiraiya often swore they would be arch enemies if they hadn't been such good friends. Though there was little wonder as to why they fought so often. After all the too were almost complete opposites. Jun was tall for her age. She had a lean, slim build that only barely hinted at her physical strength. She wore a yellow sleeveless jumpsuit. The jumpsuit was her way of honoring her idols, Might Guy and Rock Lee, while maintain her own sense of style and originality. She had long, straight, black hair, which many of their classmates joked was her one feminine feature. Jun was a tomboy in just about every since of the word. She was outspoken, hardworking, confident and assertive. Jun preferred to deal with issues in a simple direct fashion, and was not afraid of a fight. In fact she enjoyed it to a certain extent. On the other hand Kenjiro was a bit short for his age. He had light brown hair that bordered on being blonde. His hair style was short, but still a bit shaggy. He wore khaki colored pants and a bright green T shirt in his usual style. Kenjiro had a shifty look on his face, or rather his usual look. He often took on a fox face expression, narrowing his eyes to slits. Where Jun was well built and strong, Kenjiro was was probably amongst the physically weakest members of Jiraiya's class. Furthermore while Jun was very a straightforward and diligent person, Kenjiro was far more lazy and flippant. Kenjiro took nothing seriously, and tended to act in which ever way he felt he could have the most fun. Kenjiro also had very sharp wits, and he used his natural cunning to act as the class clown. He had become infamous for his elaborate and unusual pranks. Most of the students at the academy and the instructors has been the subject of his pranks, but his favorite targets were his friends Jiraiya and Jun. Jun in particular. "Hey Ji", Jun said, referring to Jiraiya by his usual nickname. She then turned her attention back to Kenjiro. "I swear Kenjiro the next time you mess with my exercise equipment I'll knock the teeth out of your head!" "Yo Jiraiya!", Kenjiro said, ignoring Jun as if their argument had never occured. "How did you sleep? Did you have a good morning?", Kenjiro asked with a sly look on his face. "Don't ignore me!", Jun exclaimed futilely. Kenjiro went right on ignoring her. Confrontation The Sensei the Trail